As the stars were gathering in Hollywood on Sunday, another group of stars was gathering at Eastminster United Church to celebrate how churches and other communities of faith are turning deeper and deeper green. It was fun to be there.

This isn't original but came about as a result of an article in today's Toronto Star.

It appears that more and more churches are using church signs to try to deliver a message, and attract people to worship.  Most of them are lighthearted.

Some of the wordings are as follows:

In 2012 all United Church congregations will be able to vote on an important doctrinal remit. This is interesting for a whole bunch of reasons. It is the first use of the ter "subordinate standard" in our polity in many years. It clearly places the various statements of faith in context of each other, the Basis of Union and, most importantly, scripture.

[quote]

In what manner did the books you read as a pre-teen or teen get chosen for you?

Did you pick them , and if so, from what selection?

Looking back, do you feel that reading influenced who you are today?

(( I am intentionally not putting this item in parenting, as I want it to be more about what impacted you, then I do about how you as a parent/mentor influence children))

In this thread, Chansen and Beloved kind of started a tangent about questioning. Having preached a sermon on Examing Faith twice (once in the UCC and again in my UU church), the topic of questioning one's faith is important to me. Indeed, it's one of the foundations of UU'ism. My basic take on it was that "the unexamined/unquestioned faith isn't worth holding." Yes, I'm riffing off of Socrates there.

Today, I did a "Faith in Action" moment after the sermon, before offering. 

I am normally a fairly strong public speaker.

When it came to speaking about my faith though, especially the stuff where it is challenging...heh, I was barely able to continue.

I am curious  -- how many of you offer or have offered personal testimony in church?

I was reminded of this song, after our congregational meeting on Sunday, so I thought I would share it with you....

Hello again my friends!

I was listening to CBC Radio One on my way home from church today.    They have such wonderful discussions on various aspects of faith.    I really felt like I was listening in to a radio version of Wonder Cafe!

Anyways ..... back to the topic .... the discussion was about the very existance of God and the guest was a Jewish Rabbi.

I would like to hear some viewpoints on a very interesting quote that really caught my ear.

Just read this article on the CBC news website at http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/01/08/tech-space-earth-like-planets.html

From the article "Astronomers say they are on the verge of finding planets like Earth orbiting other stars, a key step in determining if we are alone in the universe."

My question is, if we are not alone in the universe, does that in any way affect your faith or belief in God?